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Political Standing for Dec. 7, 2012

By: James Pindell, WMUR.com Political Reporter

Published On: Dec 07 2012 06:43:53 PM EST

Saturday, 7:15 a.m., Political Scoop: My guest this week is Mark MacKenzie, the president of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO. We talk about a report his group recently did on what the so-called “fiscal cliff” could mean for middle class Granite State families. He also shares his thoughts about Gov.-elect Maggie Hassan and the state of his union.

Sunday, 10 a.m., CloseUP: The whole show is decided to looking at the legacy of outgoing Gov. John Lynch. After a well produced 4 minute look back, Lynch is host Josh McElveen’s guest for the rest of the show. He talks about his legacy, his regrets, his current thinking on joining the Obama Administration and he ends will a look to the camera moment to thank voters. Lynch actually gets a little emotional.

Pictures Of The Week

There are lots of ways to look at these two pictures together. Take whatever interpretation you want.

For Those Keeping Track

At a forum on Friday, U.S. Rep.-elect Carol Shea-Porter and U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen both publicly urged Hillary Clinton to run for president. One would only assume that Gov.-elect Maggie Hassan would back Clinton again, and it is not far-fetched to think that U.S. Rep.-elect Annie Kuster would join them.

Noted

The money and politics watchdog OpenSecrets.org took U.S. Rep.-elect Carol Shea-Porter, D-Rochester, to task saying she "failed miserably at collecting basic, legally required information about her donors" on campaign finance reports. The report claims Shea-Porter only gave biographical information on one out of three donors. After seeing the report Shea-Porter’s team looked into the issue and found that since Shea-Porter began running for office there were only 79 donors out of 66,000 who have incomplete information. (The law requires campaigns put in their “best efforts” to obtain info). In the 2012 cycle, they said Shea-Porter had more than 800 itemized donors and just 20 had incomplete information. Shea-Porter’s team said they have no idea where the report is coming from and they are asking for a correction.

How often will Republican activists repeat Horn’s performance as platform chair?

Is it true that yet someone else might jump in the race for NHGOP chair?

What is the percentage chance that Jeb Bradley and Frank Guinta will face off in a primary in 2014?

Will it actually be Bette Lamontange on the ballot next time and not Ovide?

Is Maggie Hassan already signaling that she will “blue ribbon committee” every issue ala Jeanne Shaheen?

Has anyone asked Tom Alciere what he makes of the Stacie Laughton situation?

With House Democrats back in power, does anyone know where Jim Ryan is hanging out?

Is there a pool on how long Mark Huddleston will remain at UNH?

If Kevin Smith announces early that he wants to run for governor in 2014, will he be primaried?

UP

Nancy Stiles: Not only did she get named as the Senate’s powerful Health and Human Services chair, but since it now also oversees what the education committee once did it is even more powerful.

New Hampshire Lung Association One thing everyone seems to agree on is that the 10-cent tobacco tax is going away.

Maggie Hassan: She is setting a bipartisan, centrist tone that is doing her a lot of favors. She uttered the most important number of the week: 97 percent. Some Republicans are already worried about what this means for her re-election if she keeps this up.

Craig Benson:The whole idea that Benson would talk publicly on a panel at the Josiah Bartlett Center fundraising dinner without snarky comments is a sign of where he is today. With Gov. John Lynch leaving soon it will be only easier.

Annie Kuster: Her two staff hires are people with intense political backgrounds with knowledge of her district and what it takes to get re-elected. Could Republicans hit her on the political hires? Sure, but it takes forever for them to attack anyone anymore, and they have their own problems.

NHGOP:Despite the above comment, Republicans smartly corrected themselves on the $25 “poll tax” conversation they didn’t want to have, but it still made the larger point that they need more people to step up.

Ray BuckleyMaybe you didn’t notice but Buckley is no longer “empire building” his team. He is the king now, so he is just “empire maintaining.”

PUSH

Andrew Hemingway Clearly he is making himself more relevant to the Republican Party and the grassroots with his run for chair, but does he really want the spotlight on him?

Jennifer Horn: By definition she is down because last week she was unopposed in her attempt to take over the state Republican Party, and this week she has an opponent. Word is that she is hardly taking this for granted.

Copyright 2012 by WMUR.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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